The South Pole overland Traverse, or SPoT, left McMurdo Station (WAP USA-22) on Antarctica’s Ross Island on Nov. 12, to begin a trek of more 1,000 miles across the Antarctic Plateau to NSF’s Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station (WAP USA-36).
Image:TNX Mike Lucibella at NSF

In the first of three such traverses planned for this research season, the eight tractors and a tracked vehicle called a PistenBully will haul 100,000 gallons of fuel to the station.

TNX National Science Foundation-Office Polar Programs, USA

Russia has provided a full details of its 64^th RAE and we are happy to share it on the WAP pages , sure that the Antarctic chasers will enjoy to know the plan; in addition, being us Radioamateurs, we are sure we will have good chance to work the skilled Radio operators  in the several Russian Bases while they will be there.

TNX and credit: State Scientific Center-Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute of the Russian Federation

The scientific expedition ship Akademik Fedorov has just departed from St. Petersburg to the shores of the Antarctic. This will be the 43^rd expeditionary flight of the flagship of the Russian polar fleet. The ship’s captain is Oleg Kalmykov Kalmykov, the head of the seasonal expedition is Mikhail Viktorovich Bugayov.

On board the ship, 100 participants of the 64^th RAE will go to Antarctica: 61 people from the wintering staff of Mirny (WAP RUS-Ø7), Vostok (WAP RUS-13) and Progress stations (WAP RUS-11), 39 participants of seasonal work at these stations, as well as seasonal field bases Molodezhnaya (WAP RUS-Ø8) and Oasis Banger and the R/V “Akademik Fedorov”.

To ensure the year-round operation of the Antarctic stations and the implementation of scientific programs of the seasonal expedition, more than 1,200 tons of various cargoes were loaded on board, including 852 tons of diesel fuel, 67 tons of food, consumables, spare parts, scientific instruments and equipment.
The voyage will last 207 days and will consist of two Antarctic phases, each of which will begin in the port of Cape Town.

At the first stage, the vessel will ensure the start of seasonal work at the Molodezhnaya Base, at Progress and Mirny stations. Then “Akademik Fedorov” will deliver personnel and supplies for Vostok station, ensure the implementation of geological and geophysical works in the Oasis of Banger and oceanographic works in the waters of the Mawson Sea and Prydz Bay. Along the way, the ship will deliver personnel and cargoes to the seasonal base of the Belarusian  and cargo to the Belgian seasonal base Princess Elizabeth on the coast of the Riiser-Larsen Sea.

The first stage will be completed in mid-March in the port of Cape Town, where participants of the wintering team at Novolazarevskaya and Bellingshausen stations will arrive on scheduled flights.
The second stage of the Antarctic cruise of the vessel will take place along the route: Cape Town – Molodezhnaya (WAP RUS-Ø8), Novolazarevskaya (WAP RUS-Ø9), Bellingsgausen (WAP RUS-Ø1),  Montevideo – Bremerhaven – St. Petersburg. At this stage, the vessel will supply and replace the wintering team at Novolazarevskaya and Bellingshausen stations, as well as complete seasonal operations at these stations and seasonal bases Molodezhnaya and Vechernyaya Mountain (WAP BLR-NEW). At the exit from the Antarctic, the vessel will conduct marine research in the Bransfield and Drake Straits. The return of the “Akademik Fedorov” to the home port is planned for June 2, 2019.

In total, the staff of the 64^th RAE will include 120 employees of the seasonal expedition, 110 people of the wintering expedition, two ships: the R/V “Akademik Fedorov” (Pic above) and the R/V “Akademik Alexander Karpinsky” (Pic aside), two helicopters of the type KA-32 and the An-2 aircraft.
WAP wish the polar explorers good luck in the expedition!

In 1965, President Eduardo Frei Montalva, declared November 6, as Chilean Antarctic Day; since then, every year Chile through INACH, celebrate it.

The “Instituto Antártico Chileno” (Chilean Antarctic Institute/INACH) is a technical organization of the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with complete autonomy in scientific, technical and outreach Antarctic activities.

Pic aside show the Chilean Navy Base , Arturo Prat (WAP CHL-Ø1).

Chile is developping logistical and scientific cooperation with 17 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, China, Argentina, Brazil, Korea, Colombia, Italy, Uruguay and Spain. In addition, INACH bases and three shelters will be used, the laboratories of two bases operated by the Armed Forces; three Navy ships; airplanes and helicopters.

Happy “Día de la Antártica Chilena” celebration to the Chilean friends, scientists and researcher.

This is a story of Luciano IK2QPO (aka OE3ZLL and II2ANT); it tells how the Antarctic passion can even involve the Mayor of a city!

I am Luciano IK2QPO (also OE3ZLL) and I live part in Milan, in the northern of Italy, and part in Pfaffstätten, a small town near Vienna, the capital city of Austria. Since I am interested in the Antarctic, every year in February I participate to the Antarctic Week as II2ANT WAP-Ø3Ø.

After many years, I succeeded in receiving the WADA and WACA awards, which I have hanged in my shack in Austria. One year ago, as it is custom in small towns in Austria, the Mayor of Pfaffstätten visited us to congratulate my wife for her 70^th birthday (see pic aside). In my dining room there was a bottle of champagne and in the corner of my shack,  the Antarctic awards hung on the wall. The mayor admired both, the champagne and my awards as well.

He asked me: “Are you an active radio amateur?  Because if you have done many contacts with the Antarctic, you must be a very good radio amateur.”

“Yes, I am an experienced radio amateur” , I replied

He told to me: “I am Disaster Manager for Lower Austria and we would need radio amateurs for emergency communication. Would you like to become responsible for emergency communication in my town?”

“Yes, of course”, I answered “But not with this dipole (a dipole for 20 and 40m). For the WADA and WACA award I have used a better one. In Italy, I have a Yagi antenna and a longer dipole.”

He replied to me: “Well, then send me a request for the authorisation to install a good antenna which is also suitable for emergency communication and I will promptly authorize it. Since your amateur radio station is a station for emergency communication nobody can forbid it and your neighboors have to accept it because emergecy is a prority for everyone”

So now I have a 40 ft. high tower with a 6 element Yagi and 3 long wires for low band and emergency use.

TNX WADA and WACA …  they really did help.
I hope to copy someone from Austria soon! 73 and good DX by OE3ZLL a.k.a IK2QPO & II2ANT

… and we congratulate Herr Christoph Kainz, the Mayor of the city of Pfaffstätten for his foresight; yes,  Radio join the people and surely helps in emergency communications!

Paddling kayaks around icebergs isn’t your typical school trip, but two Auckland teenagers, led by the explorer Olympic kayaker Mike Dawsonm are about to do just that. They’ll be joined by five other students and will head off in March 2019.
The expedition is the latest organized by the Antarctic Heritage Trust
They’re heading to Antarctica with an Olympian as a guide, following in the footsteps of some of history’s legendary polar explorers – Sir Edmund Hillary, Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton.

What it’s like to camp in Antarctica?
Four simple lessons you can learn from Antarctica about sustainability.  “You’re going to have icebergs, you’re going to have amazing scenery – whales, seals, penguins – you name it, it’s going to be there.” Mike said.
Read more at:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/10/auckland-teenagers-set-to-kayak-around-antarctic-peninsula.html
Enjoy a short video of Kayaking in Antarctica

On October 21, 1921, a qualified group of radio amateurs ( the first on the air) met, in an assembly held in the auditorium of the newspaper  “La Prensa”,  did found the  Radio Club Argentino, which historically became the third Radio Club in the world ,

Thus, the so called “Antarctics” keep gratitude and recognition to the Radio Amateurs, because they were a nexus with their loved ones, approaching them with affection in the distance and time.
At the beginning of the century, the Navy’s Ministry did regulate the Ham radio spectrum and was the one who granted the first Amateur Radio License to Teodoro Belloq, on October 15, 1913, who did set a radiotelegraphy station on Av. Callao to 1600 of the Federal Capital and another in a fifth in the San Isidro Party, Province of Buenos Aires.

The Radio Amateurs were a small group and known for doing weird things, something like the alchemists of 1900!

Read more at: http://www.marambio.aq/radioaficionado.html

Happy Amateur Radio Day’s celebration to all of the operator actually active from the Antarctc Bases in the Icy Continent as well as all of those involved in Ham radio communications.

Particular wishes to our friends living in Tierra del Fuego (WAP ARG-23)

Flights to Antarctica delayed by a fortnight due to storms are set to take off.
Antarctica New Zealand staff were scheduled to fly south on October 1 to set up Scott Base  (WAP NZL-ØØ1) for the summer science season ahead, but wild winds and snow closed the McMurdo Sound airfields, causing the longest delay in decades to the start of the season.
The first flight is scheduled to fly out at 8am Tuesday, followed by another at 11am. There will be two more flights on Wednesday, one on Thursday and two on Friday.
An Antarctica New Zealand spokeswoman said the first to fly south include mechanics, electricians, chefs, domestic staff, communications operators and logistics personnel. They will prepare Scott Base for the season, with scientists due to start flying south later this month.
She said US staff in Antarctica have been busy clearing Phoenix Airfield (WAP USA-NEW), which serves US research centre McMurdo Station (WAP USA-22) and New Zealand’s Scott Base (WAP NZL-Ø1), following the storms.

Antarctica New Zealand general manager of operations Simon Trotter said the New Zealand team was working hard to minimise impact on science planned for the beginning of the season.
 “The storms have also affected our US neighbours, who are due to fly south to McMurdo Station. Unlike us, they can’t send their employees home to wait it out – so many of them are getting to know Christchurch very well.”
Read more at:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/107846223/antarctica-nz-scientists-due-to-fly-south-after-weather-causes-twoweek-delay

The new science season at Antarctica is just a few days away from opening and NIWA researchers are busy packing containers and shipping them to the ice where they will be reunited with them in the coming months.

(NIWA stands for  National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research and it’s   a Crown Research Institute of New Zealand. Established in 1992. It conducts commercial and non-commercial research across a broad range of disciplines in the environmental sciences)..

The summer science season lasts for about five months, and 10 NIWA staff will be heading south over that time, with the first due there in early October to work at Arrival Heights, NIWA’s atmospheric research station (WAP NZL-NEW) about six kilometers from Scott Base (WAP NZL-Ø1),  Latitude 77° 49′ Ø1″ South , Longitude 166° 25′ ØØ” East  Elevation 184 m asl

Principal atmospheric technician Dan Smale will be carrying out specialized annual maintenance and calibration on the equipment which makes important measurements of greenhouse gases and trace gases such as ozone.
Mr Smale will also train two new technicians to run and maintain the instruments. One will be based on the ice for summer, while the other will remain for a full year. Later in the season atmospheric technicians Gordon Brailsford and Mike Kotkamp will also go to Arrival Heights for further maintenance and replacement of specialized parts.
Read more at:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC1809/S00038/busy-season-for-niwa-scientists-in-antarctica.htm

Antarctica is emitting cosmic radiation?

In 2006, NASA launched a probe on Antarctica to measure the cosmic radiation that falls on our planet. The probe soon began to detect these particles, but there was something very rare in a percentage of them: they came from below, from the ice of Antarctica.

Last week, a team of physicists from the Pennsylvania State University did publish an interesting theory about the origin of that cosmic radiation that seems to be originated in our own planet. If that theory proves to be true, what emits the ice of Antarctica is a new type of particle that goes completely out of the current standard model of physics and would demonstrate the validity of the supersymmetry model.

The pic aside (Photo and credit to: NASA), show the ANITA Probe. Cosmic rays were observed shooting from Antarctica by the high-tech ANITA balloon

Sources:                                       

https://es.gizmodo.com/la-antartida-esta-emitiendo-radiacion-cosmica-y-eso-po-1829437531

Read also: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1027547/space-news-cosmic-rays-antarctica-supersymmetrical-particles-anita-nasa

Rothera Station (WAP GBR-12) 67° 34’ Ø3” South, 68° Ø7’ 47” East,  is the BAS logistics centre for theAntarctic and home to well-equipped biological laboratories and facilities for a wide range of research. The station is situated on a rock and raised beach promontory at the southern extremity of Wormald Ice Piedmont, South-Eastern Adelaide Island.

Rothera Station was established in 1975 to replace Adelaide station (1961-1977) where the skiway had deteriorated.

October 2018: The Runway at Rothera Station (Lat: 67° 34’ 3” South, Lon: 68° 7’ 39” East)   has finally been cleared of snow in readiness for the first aircraft of the season. The view west towards the mountains of Adelaide Island, and Ryder Bay covered with sea ice.
Photo: Jess Walkup

The link below, will lead the readers  through the Airfields in Antarctica:

https://www.aeroinside.com/airports/antarctica/antarctica/AQ

Eating outside can be one of life’s great joys,  but it’s a whole different story when you live in Antarctica.The scientists working at Concordia Station (aka Dome C-WAP MNB-Ø3), one of the most remote places on Earth at around 1,000 miles from the Geographical South Pole, rarely get that pleasure with temperatures dipping as low as -80°C in winter.

But with spring coming on in the region and the temperature rising close to a positively balmy -60°C, station leader Dr Cyprien Verseux and his colleagues decided a spot of al fresco dining was in order.
Concordia, which is currently home to 13 people, is extremely isolated with no other human beings within around 370 miles.
It is an inhospitable place beyond even the cold temperatures,  it is an incredibly dry area and the sun did not peak over the horizon for three months over the winter until it made a reappearance in August.

Dr Verseux explained: “Concordia is highly attractive to researchers from different fields such as astronomy, human physiology, glaciology, atmospheric sciences, and geophysics.”

It is used by the European Space Agency to study how humans adapt to what are likely very similar conditions to a future moon or Mars base.

Read more at:
http://home.bt.com/news/science-news/this-is-what-happens-if-you-eat-spaghetti-al-fresco-in-antarctica-11364299753880

Construction is progressing on the RRS Sir David Attenborough  one of the most advanced polar research vessels in the world. From 2019 onwards scientists researching oceans, ice and atmosphere will have access to state-of-the-art facilities on this floating multidisciplinary research platform.

The new polar ship is commissioned by NERC, built by Cammell Laird to a Rolls-Royce design and operated by British Antarctic Survey. This new research platform will transform how ship-borne science is conducted in the Polar Regions. The commissioning of the RRS Sir David Attenborough is part of a major Government polar infrastructure investment programme designed to keep Britain at the forefront of world-leading research in Antarctica and the Arctic.

This £200m commitment represents the UK Government‘s largest investment in polar science since the 1980s.

Read more at: https://www.bas.ac.uk/polar-operations/sites-and-facilities/facility/rrs-sir-david-attenborough/

TNX  and credit: British Antarctic Survey

The XXXIV Italian Antarctic Campaign (2018-2019) has just begun  few days ago. Mario Zucchelli Station (WAP ITA-Ø1) has been open and  personnel is working on the outside to rebuild the air strip, waiting for the first airplane and then, the start of the summer campaign. The helicopters make a stop on one of the 3 equipped platforms, the light aircraft equipped with skis land on any flat snow-covered surface, the Hercules C-130 instead (with wheels) on a 3000 meter long seasonal track that is set on sea ice.

The site of the Italian Base, initially called Stazione Baia Terra Nova and now Mario Zucchelli (MZS), is located along the coast of Northern Terra Vittoria,  between Campbell and Drygalski glaciers. The coordinates of the station are: latitude 74° 41′ 42″ South, longitude 164° 07′ 23″ East.

It is built on a small rocky peninsula. The area where the buildings and facilities are located has access to the sea.

Small inlets lend themselves to the loading/unloading of materials according to the season. At the beginning of the summer season, when the surrounding sea is covered by ice, the ship unloads the materials on the ice pack and then, by means of convoys of sleds everything is moved to the base. At the end of the summer, when the ice gives way to water, a small pier and a barge are used for connections between land and ship.

So far, we don’t know if, among the personnel involved in this 34^th Antarctic Campaign, there is some Radio operators who can work HF on the Ham radio bands.

Some clips and photographs of a trip to South Georgia Island, Sub-Antarctic areas, in January, 2014 with the Oceanside Expeditions ship Plancius
(Click on the gif aside to see a 29′ videoclip)

Stops at Elsehul Bay, Rosita Harbour (WAP GBR-NEW), Stromness Whaling Station (WAP GBR-NEW), Grytviken (WAP GBR-29), Fortuna Bay, Jason Harbour, Gold Harbour and Cooper Bay.

Thanks and credit to: Jack Salen

More than 26,000 years ago, sea level was much lower than it is today partly because the ice sheets that jut out from the continent of Antarctica were enormous and covered by grounded ice — ice that was fully attached to the seafloor. The ice sheets were as large as they could get and at the time, sea level was much lower because a lot of ice was sequestered on the continent. As the planet warmed, the ice sheets melted and contracted, and sea level began to rise.
LSU Department of Geology & Geophysics Associate Professor Phil Bart and his students have discovered new information that illuminates how and when this global phenomenon occurred. Their research recently published in Nature’s Scientific Reports may change today’s sea level rise predictions as Earth and its icy continent continues to warm…
Read more at: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/lsu-rag092518.php

If you don’t know anyone residing or working in those remote corners of the world you can still receive covers from them. Here’s how I do it:

Put your cover and the request letter in a larger envelope and mail it to the base or administrative organization.

Expect your mail to take a long time to come back to you. Some covers could take well over a year to come back, and sometimes, they don’t come back at all. Be patient. It helps to know the shipping schedules so you can get your covers to the bases with plenty of time for them to be back on a boat (or plane) and back to you. If your covers arrive on the last boat of the season they might sit until next season for a return trip.

Remember that these bases are in the Southern Hemisphere: summer in the North when it’s winter in the South. During their winter months, access to most of these bases is nearly impossible so in most cases, mail will only be delivered during their summer.

Sometimes it is possible to buy some old and interesting stamped envelopes  on the internet market but for sure, those addressed directly to you,  as collector,  have for yourself a better value.

Learn more at:   

http://stamps.mybalconyjungle.com/antarctic_covers/antarctic_covers.html

http://www.bai-bg.net/philately.html

WAP Meeting nr. 15^th ; another great goal for the Antarctic Hams and followers!

Organized by ARI Mondovì since its launching on 2003, WAP Meeting continue with no interruptions. WAPwebsite (thanks in particular to Floyd KK3Q) is giving the visitors (Hams, chasers, students)  a chance to know more about the Icy Continet and the HF communication with people involved down there in scientific missions.

39 years of continuous work is a real great commitment .. perhaps some younger Hams can come on to give us the change!
This year,  theme of the Meeting,  was “ Antarctic passion and WAP Directory” ; just one click to enter almost every corner of the Antarctic, a great job provided by WAP website, but also a regret to consider that the new computerized digital systems of communication are partly supplanting SSB & CW  that was a most customary habit for more than 70 years and now, slowing down years after years! Ham Radio seems to have ceased, with the exceptions of Russia, Japan, USA, Australia, Germany end few other Cuntries  that are almost still active every Antarctic Summer Season.

In the future it will be probably hard to record new calls and new sites by Hams operating from Antarctica, simply because other communication systems are supplanting HF contacts between amateur radio operators, rather than propagation  studies  and Radio experiments,

Presentation has been done by I1HYW with the help of Betty IK1QFM and Max IK1GPG (see pic aside) in front of an audience of about hundred people, between authorities and Hams coming from  different parts of Italy and few European Countries.

What do you do if you’re a fast-growing city in the desert with lots of thirsty people and little freshwater reserves? Park an iceberg off the coast.

That’s one Dubai-based engineering firm’s plan to provide fresh drinking water to the city’s rapidly-expanding population.

The National Advisor Bureau (NABL), a private engineering firm, wants to schlep a glacial iceberg from Antarctica – weighing approximately 100 million tons – to Dubai, via an intermediate stop in either Perth, Australia, or Cape Town, South Africa.

If the iceberg doesn’t melt along the way, the firm will sell the water to Dubai’s government.

If we succeed with this project, it could solve one of the world’s biggest problems – Abdulla Alshehi, NABL’s founder told NBC News- So if we can show this is viable, it could ultimately help not only the UAE, but all humanity.

Reed more  and watch a video at:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/middle-east/106941489/plan-to-tow-icebergs-from-antarctica-to-parched-dubai

For 13 months after breaking away from the White Continent’s long peninsula, the trillion-tonne block did little more than shuffle back and forth on the spot.

But now its southern end has swung round almost 90 degrees, indicating the berg has been caught in ocean currents.

The approaching southern summer should only assist its anticipated slow drift northwards, experts say.

“After more than a year of moving to and from near its parent ice shelf, iceberg A-68, which calved from the Larsen C Ice Shelf on 12 july 2017, has finally escaped,” commented Prof. Adrian Luckman from Swamsea University, UK.

Until recently, the iceberg was hemmed in by dense sea-ice in the east and shallow waters in the north.  Now, a strong foehn wind blowing eastwards off the ice shelf in early September has pushed the southerly end of the iceberg out into the Weddell Gyre. This persistent clockwise drift of ocean waters and floating sea-ice flowing north past the Larsen Ice Shelf has rotated A-68 out into the Weddell Sea.

“Here, it is much more free to begin moving away and be carried further north into warmer waters.”

Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute will lead one of the scientific cruises, using the Research Vessel Polarstern; the UK’s Scott Polar Research Institute will lead the other, run off the icebreaker SA Agulhas II.

Read more at: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45421315

The first overwintering hut was erected in Antarctica  at Cape Adare in 1899 by the British Antarctic Expedition led by Carsten Borchgrevink.

It was a large wooden structure supplied as a kit for speed and ease of erection, it was the first time a building had been erected on Antarctica, perhaps surprisingly it still stands and so is the only remaining example of a surviving first building on any continent.

It set the pattern for Antarctic buildings for the next fifty years or so of wooden huts designed to be erected quickly during a short summer season that will at some time be interrupted by adverse weather conditions.

While the buildings were only needed for 2-3 years at most, they had to be very strong and sturdily placed to withstand the relentless onslaught of the elements.

Along with cold temperatures in Antarctica resulting in a slow rate of decomposition of the wood the huts were built from, this means that there are a number of huts that are still in existence today in pretty good condition, considering their age.

Shortly we’ll report about some new Huts not yet listed on WAP-WADA Directory; they will enter on WADA next release

TNX and credit to: www.coolantarctica.com

Read more about Huts in Antarctica at: https://www.coolantarctica.com/Travel/antarctica-huts-historic.php

Written by Anthony W.DePrato WA4JQS

With sincere regret, we learn that Mr. Peter Short VP8WA of Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, became a SK 2 weeks ago.

Peter was a member of the South Sandwich Island DX Group. Peter was very hard working helping with our 1992 #1 Most Wanted DXPED VP8SSI and again in 1994 with our #1 most wanted DXPED 3YØPI to Peter the First Island.

Peter also helped later dxped’s going to South Sandwich ,South Georgia, and Peter 1st. He was the first and only RTTY QSO for many hams from the Falklands. Peter along with Marshall VP8PU and his XYL Dee VP8QG were for many during the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s the only VP8 QSO’s.

Sadly they are all now QRT for the most part. Bob VP8LP who also helped with all the SSI-DXG and later dxped’s is now the only active Ham in Stanley for the most part.

I was the QSL manager for all,  but Bob VP8PL and still have the logsfor the following VP8’s: VP8PU, VP8QG, VP8WA, VP8ZV, VP8NJ, VP8QJ and VP8BZL.

Tony WA4JQS / VP8BLZ, Anthony W.DePrato WA4JQS since 1962

Cq Dx Hall Of Fame # 35, Dxcc Honor Roll, Dxpedition Of The Year 1992 VP8SSI.  Dxpedition Of The Year 1993/1994 3YØPI.

Calls held: VP8SSI, 3YØP,I VP8BZL, V31SS, ZD8JQS, WA4JQS/ZS1, WA4JQS/KC4, WA4JQS/4K1

TNX WA4JQS / VP8BLZ & Maxi, DL-SWL

Monday 27 Aug at  20:09:24  a moderate magnitude earthquake at a depth of 64.0 km in open waters did strike the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Epicenter latitude/longitude was 61.85° South, 58.5° West

The earthquake was felt also at the Korean King Sejong Station (WAP KOR-Ø1) and  in the Chilean Antarctic Base Pres. Eduardo Frei Montalva-Villa Las Estrellas (WAP CHL-Ø5),  54 km SW from epicenter.

Comment from the personnel overwintering at Arctowsky Polish Antarctic Station (WAP POL-Ø1) was: today between wind gusts we felt something new; – an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale-.

Details at: https://www.earthquaketrack.com/r/soth-shetland-isl…/recent

The Australian Antarctic Division has paid tribute to a former Chief Scientist, Professor Patrick (Pat) Quilty AM, who died on Sunday (26 August). Professor Quilty led the Division’s science program for more than 18 years from 1980–1999 and published more than 200 scientific papers.

The Australian Antarctic Division said long-serving former chief scientisProfessor Quilty died at the weekend at the age of 79.

After graduating in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science with honors from the University of Western Australia, Professor Quilty first visited Antarctica in 1965 as a field palaeontologist with the University of Wisconsin.
He received his PhD from the University of Tasmania in 1969.
AAD director Nick Gales said Professor Quilty had made an outstanding contribution to Antarctic science.

WAP sends personal heartfelt sympathies on the loss of Prof Pat Quilty to his family and to the whole AAD.

Thanks to our HAM friend Juan Manuel Pereda LU4CJM,  this post reflects the  worries that rise to world level!

What we can do, is to share this and hope that something can change before it’s really too late.

Approximately 54 billion tons of greenhouse gases are emitted each year, mainly from the burning of fossil fuels.
The UN believes that these emissions should be reduced to 42 billion tons by 2030 to curb global warming below 2 degrees.

Three University of Queensland researchers are among a group of 100 female scientists from around the world taking part in a year-long leadership scheme culminating in an Antarctic voyage.
They are part of the fourth group selected for the prestigious Homeward Bound program, which aims to create a global network of women in science who can influence policy and decision making.
The Institute for Molecular Bioscience’s Dr Anna Vinkhuyzen and Hana Starobova and Dr Emma Kennedy from the Global Change Institute have teamed up with fellow Queenslanders, Bianca Das and Karen Aitken from CSIRO, to raise funds for the trip.
A three-week trip to Antarctica is the summit of a year-long journey, where the participants explore leadership, strategy, and how to extend the reach of their science message through virtual meetings and an online curriculum. The Queensland scientists will work and learn with colleagues from across the globe, despite their diverse research interests.
The fourth ship sails from Ushuaia, Argentina on 19 November 2019 and will visit several different research stations in Antarctica.
Read more at: https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2018/08/women-science-setting-sail-antarctica

Spring is coming in Antarctica; rainbow above Holy Trinity Church at Bellingshausen Station (WAP RUS-Ø1), King George Island; world’s southernmost Russian Orthodox church.
Correction from Wessex Weather: it’s probably not a rainbow because it doesn’t appear to be raining; more likely a fogbow or cloudbow (some navigators call them white rainbows).
Photo: Vitaly Boldin, AARI

Thanks and credit: https://www.facebook.com/TheAntarcticReport/photos/a.906628919420995/1756443784439500/?type=3&theater

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists have tracked krill populations in the southern oceans for years, but for the first time, they plan to use autonomous computer-driven drones to help with the basic research.

Krill are tiny crustaceans that are a key building block of the food web in the southern oceans. The shrimp-like creatures feed whales, seals, penguins and people. The tiny animals are known for their large underwater swarms.

NOAA scientists have tracked fluctuating krill populations for years as part of an international effort to better understand the food web in the Antarctic.

Click on the gif aside to see an interesting video of this project.
“We study krill so we understand whether its trends and abundance are likely to be influenced by how much fishing effort we do, but also whether that fishing effort will impact the upper trophic levels like penguins and seals,” said Christian Reiss, a senior researcher at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla.

But packing up a research vessel and traveling to the bottom of the world takes time and money. Both are in short supply at a federal agency that is keeping a close eye on shrinking budgets.

Thanks and credit to: https://www.kpbs.org/news/2018/aug/16/san-diego-scientists-use-drones-antarctica-researc/ where you can get more

WAP  joins the day of National mourning for the victims of the collapse of the Morandi highway bridge in Genoa.

Inaugurated in 1967, the Morandi viaduct served as the main East-West artery linking Genova and the entire southern Mediterranean. It was a key logistics point for trucks loading and unloading containers in Italy’s biggest gateway port, as well as the heavy car traffic towards different higways.

On 11:36 Tuesday morning, August 14th, the towering concrete icon of national pride collapsed into a jagged heap, swallowing carloads of innocent passersby, crushing the dreams of dozens of families leaving the whole country upset

Our sympathy and our deepest condolences to the families of the victims.

The 2018 results of  Arctic Challenge , Antarctic  Challenge , Polar Challenge ( Arctic Ch + Antarctic Ch ) are available online via :
http://french-polar-team.fr/Polar_Trophy_files/Polar%20Trophy%20Scores.pdf , where the full list can be seen

About Antarctic Challenge the 1st 20 Hams on the 2018 list are:

The French Polar Team’s website (http://french-polar-team.fr ) is dedicated to amateur radios and Short Waves Listeners (SWL) fascinated by Polar and Sub-Antarctic Rregions.

Mehdi F5PFP  and Michel F6DWQ have created the Polar Trophy in the  aim  to stimulate the radio contacts with these regions as well as with the Polar ships. This challenge is subdivided in the Antarctic Challenge and the Arctic Challenge.

TNX  Michel F6DWQ & Mehdi F5PFP for the great job!

Today on all Australian Stations flags are flying at half mast in honour of Geoffrey Reeve who passed away at Casey in 1979. ( pic aside shows Casey Cross at Reeve’s Hill)

Geoffrey Basil Reeve, was the first Casey expeditioner to die while serving in Antarctica; he died of exposure and hypothermia in 1979 during a blizzard.

August 1979 at Casey Base, Antarctica: Geoffrey Reeve died of exposure after he became lost in a blizzard 10km from Casey. He was the senior electrical fitter-mechanic at the station, and deputy officer-in-charge. Early in August Mr Reeve was one of six members of the winter party who camped at Robinson Ridge, a rock out-crop about 10km from Casey, to undertake maintenance and biological observations. On August 5 he was moving in the camp precincts when he was caught in a sudden blizzard which reached a speed of 96 knots. Other members of the party found Geoffrey Reeve unconscious less than a kilometre from the camp. A search and rescue team, including the medical officer, Dr K. de Jonge, was sent from Casey by tractor, and brought Mr Reeve back to the station. Further resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful. Mr Reeve’s family asked that his body be returned to Australia for burial. It will be flown out from Casey on one of the two flights which a United States Navy Hercules will make from McMurdo Station in the first week of November.

Source: https://antarcticsociety.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Antarctic.V8.11.1979.pdf

In spite of the famous saying “below 40 degrees South there is no law; below 50 degrees South there is no God” the exploration of the continent was in fact closely connected to religious activities Jesuit  geophysicists. Some of the early religious buildings are now protected as important historical monuments. Antarctica has various places of worship and an increasing demand for religious services and construction of sacred architecture on the Continent

Jesuit is the largest single order in the Catholic church, with more than 19,000 members by its own count, and a presence on every continent  including Antarctica, where Jesuits have been chaplains and, in keeping with their order’s reputation as the church’s intellectual powerhouse, even scientists. Jesuits have a 60 year history in Antarctica. In 1951 a 27 year-old French Jesuit scholastic (seminarian) and here below are some of them:

Rev. Pierre-Noël Mayaud (1923-2006), was one of 17 scientists who sailed on the polar exploration ship Commandant Charcot to spend 12 months at  Adelie land, the French sector of Antarctica.  Mayaud had become a Jesuit in 1941 at the age of 18. Permission for him to join the Antarctic expedition was given by Fr.  Jean-Baptiste Janssens, who was at that time the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, because it was believed that the experience he gained in Antarctica and the scientific work he did there would be a great asset in his future work as a professor at a Catholic university. Later in his life Father Mayaud, a geophysicist, was member of Conseil National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). See:  https://antarcticjesuit.com/2013/01/04/french-jesuit-in-antarctica/

The Rev. Edward C. Bradley (* 18 july 1928, +8 june 2011, aged 82), was a Philadelphia physician who became a Jesuit priest when he was 50  In June 1979, the month before his 51st birthday, he was ordained as a Jesuit priest. for 18 years, Bradley had been one of the University’s most ambitious and adventurous Jesuit scientists, operating a state-of-the-art seismology station and challenging students in the classroom, all the while regaling everyone with stories of his adventures—particularly of his trip to Antarctica and his explorations at the bottom of the world

Father Michael Smith Australian Jesuit, visited the South Pole in December 2012 when he was a chaplain to the US base in the Antarctic (pic aside).

Father Dan Doyle (1932-2014) has been the leader of New Zealand’s Antarctic Ministry for the past 15 years, spending 14 summers at the Antarctic base as priest to a maximum summertime population of 2,000. In the winter, when the Antarctic falls dark, the population drops to about 150 essential staff.